Democrats Say Trump Is Wasting His Time In Connecticut

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin says Republicans should use Donald Trump's campaign stop in Fairfield as a time to distance themselves from the presidential candidate.

HARTFORD — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is wasting his time visiting Connecticut, Democrats said at a press conference at their party's headquarters on the eve of his campaign rally in Fairfield.

"The fact that Donald Trump is coming to campaign in Connecticut this weekend is an indication of a presidential campaign that's grasping at straws," said state Rep. James Albis, D-East Haven.

Advertisement

But Trump's Connecticut supporters think there's a set of circumstances in this deep-blue state that hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988 that the boisterous billionaire can tap into: a plurality of unaffiliated voters, a widely unpopular Democratic governor and a state economy that has lagged behind the nation in job growth since the end of the Great Recession.

"There are a tremendous number of people out there who are upset," said Richard Foley, a former Republican state chairman who was a delegate to the Republican National Convention. "Part of it has to do with Connecticut. Part of it has to do with the nation. And part of it has to do with jobs and pay. There's a whole lot of reasons for people to be upset right now."

Democrats counter that Trump's rhetoric is drowning out any of his policy positions and turning off Connecticut voters in such a way that it could end up costing Republicans seats in the state legislature unless they distance themselves from the man at the top of their ticket.

"There are a lot of districts that [Trump's] not going to play well," said state Rep. Matt Ritter, D-Hartford. "And so if you're not going to [distance yourself from Trump] because it's the right thing to do, maybe you'll do it because at least it's an opportunity to be competitive in a [presidential] election year. You'd like to think it'd be done because of the things that he says."

Gary Rose, chairman of the government and politics department at Sacred Heart University, where Trump will speak, said Trump could do better than expected in Connecticut.

"The Trump campaign I know does believe that they can possibly stage an upset in Connecticut," he said. "They do feel that there's enough resentment about the economy, what's happened to manufacturing in the state, white working class voters who feel they've been left behind. These issues they feel are resonating in Trump's message about the economy."

But Rose said recent controversies may have done irreparable damage to Trump's campaign.

Since the Republican National Convention Trump has found himself caught up in a high-profile feud with the family of a Muslim Army captain killed in Iraq, made a remark at a campaign rally that some interpreted as a threat of gun violence against his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and claimed — saying the next day that he was merely being sarcastic — that Obama was the "founder of ISIS."

"That has definitely changed the dynamic, here in Connecticut as well," Rose said Friday. Some people who were attracted to his populist economic policies have been "completely lost."

"People are probably really wondering about Trump's fitness with some of those statements," he said. "So much is not working in his favor right now."

Acknowledging Trump's divisiveness — and criticism from some Sacred Heart alumni who questioned a Catholic university inviting a candidate whose policy positions don't mesh with its values — university President John J. Petillo posted a blog entry Friday morning titled, "Informed Decisions Are Driven By Listening."

"Mr. Trump would not be the first controversial person — nor will he be the last — to speak at our University, whether by design or circumstance," he wrote. "As a liberal arts institution, these opportunities provide our students and many diverse audiences the opportunity to assess the facts, observe the actions and measure a speaker's words. Tolerance of and exposure to one another's opinions and concerns is a foundation of the liberal arts and the Catholic intellectual tradition."

The rally in Fairfield is sandwiched between events in two key swing states: Pennsylvania and Ohio. The last presidential poll of Connecticut voters, by Quinnipiac University in June, showed Clinton with a seven-point lead. President Barack Obama won Connecticut by 22 points in 2008 and 17 points in 2012.

An average of national polls compiled by the website RealClearPolitics shows Clinton with a six-point edge over Trump.